Peppermint Crunch

Intro

Every summer my primary school, Titahi Bay North School, walked over 'The Farm' to Shelley Bay for a picnic ... and we needed food and drink. I remember one particular trip Mum had flavoured our drink bottles with peppermint essence! It was so yummy and surprising and special I have never forgotten it and I always associate this recipe with that memory.

Later, on the day of 6th form accreditation, we ended up here celebrating our good fortune to have UE accredited. I remember Mum coming to collect a load of us teenagers packed into the Holden station wagon like sardines and she took us back home to continue celebrating - safely.  

Shelley Bay is now known as its more appropriate Maori name, Whitereia Park, and is still a very cool picnic location.

Recipe

• 5 ounces flour (140g)
• 3 ounces sugar (85g)
• 3 crushed weetbix
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 tablespoon cocoa
• 4 ounces melted butter (125g)

Mix everything together, press into a greased slice tin (swiss roll tin) for 15 minutes at 375 degrees fahrenheit (180 degees celcius).

Ice with peppermint essence flavoured icing. Its nice with chocolate or green coloured icing, or for a treat 2 layers of icing: 1 white peppermint flavoured and a chocolate icing on top.

Marshmellow Slice

Intro

I was talking to an older friend last week about how hard it is to find a cafe serving nicely sized slices, proper savouries and club sandwiches. It is increasingly hard these days to buy 'polite' servings when eating out. Huges wedges of thick slices and palm-sized shortbread are simply overwhelming for many people and older people in particular. She has a point. This is the baking of my childhood; slices were cooked in swiss-roll tins and cut into 24 neat squares, savouries were 2 inches across and comprised a thin layer of savoury mince encased in flaky puff pastry and pikelets, as served by Nana Wilson, were tiny pillows of lovliness.

This slice is one of my Mums and I don't remember it being made terribly often. I remember it usually had toasted coconut sprinkled on top but sometimes it had a thin layer of chocolate icing. Nowadays I double this recipe because my favourite tin is a bit bigger than a standard swiss roll tin and  we like our slices a little more generous in size than this recipe from the 1960s.

Recipe

• 3ozs butter
• 3 ozs sugar
• 1 egg
• 5 ozs flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• Pinch of salt

Cream the butter and sugar until light, pale and creamy. Add the egg then fold in the sifted dry ingredients.

Spread into a greased swiss roll tin, prick all over and bake 15 minutes at 350f. Remove from oven, pour marshmellow over the top and sprinkle with coconut or ice thinly with chocolate icing when cold.

Marshmellow topping

• 1 cup sugar
• 1 cup water
• 1 dessertspoon gelatine
• 1 cup icing sugar
• few drops red food colouring

Dissolve the gelatine in the cold water in a saucepan, add sugar and bring to the boil. Simmer 10 minutes stirring occasionally. Remove from heat and cool for a few minutes, add icing sugar and food colouring then beat for 10 minutes until thick and creamy.

Caramel Anzac Slice

Intro

This is, without doubt, the very best of my recipes for slices. It has all my favourite flavours: coconut, caramel and rolled oats. These are reminiscent of Anzac biscuits - a great Kiwi classic (yes - I will give recipes for these too).

Recipe

Base

Cream together

• 200g butter
• 150g sugar

Add

• 1 teaspoon vanilla essence
• 2 cups flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder

Press mixture into a greased swiss roll tin. Cook 10 minutes at 175 degrees celcius.

Filling

Melt together

• 1 can sweetened condensed milk
• 25g butter
• 1 tablespoon golden syrup

Pour over the partially cooked base then add the topping..

Topping

• 70g butter rubbed into
• 1 cup rolled oats (organic oats are worth it - truly)
• half cup coconut
• quarter cup flour
• quarter cup brown sugar

Sprinkle over the topping and bake for 20 minutes at 180 degrees celcius.

Lemon Coconut Slice

Intro

This is a slice I 'invented' in the process of trying to replicate a lemon slice I tasted while staying at The White House, a ski lodge in Ohakune. I never did get it right but my slice is pretty good. Everyone grows lemons in Levin - except me - so whenever I get given too many to use quickly I make this.

Recipe

Pastry

Cream 60g butter then add 2 tablespoons sugar beating until just combined - don't overmix or it will be tough. Add 1 lightly beaten egg then fold in 1 cup plain flour and 2 tablespoons self raising flour. Knead very lightly then rest in fridge in 20 mins. Press into a swiss roll tin - it will be thin.

Filling

Spread over a half quantity of lemon honey.

Topping

Mix together then sprinkle evenly over the lemon filling:

• 2 eggs
• 4 tablespoons sugar
• 2 and a half cups of thread coconut

Bake for 25 minutes at 180 degrees until the top is lightly browned and the base is cooked through.